He was born in Denver, Colorado in 1923, the son of Verner Zevola Reed, Jr. and Gladys Quentell Reed. Mr. Reed attended Aiken Preparatory School in S.C., where he was a skilled horseman. He graduated from Milton Academy in 1941 and attended Harvard University before becoming a member of the Army Air Corps. During World War II he was stationed in China, Burma, and India. He had joined the Air Corps as a private, served in the CBI as an aircraft engineering officer, and was discharged in 1946 as First Lieutenant.

Returning home from the war, Mr. Reed lived in Stowe, Vermont, where he became a furniture maker. When he had difficulty finding a good photographer to market his products, he picked up a camera and taught himself the art. This led him to Boston to pursue photography professionally. During the 1950s he worked on a freelance basis for Life magazine, photographing over 125 assignments in New England. His work was also published in Fortune, Paris Match, Time, and Vermont Life.

In 1956, Mr. Reed returned to Vermont. He continued to do freelance assignments for magazines and began a new career as a sculptor. While in Stowe, Mr. Reed purchased and ran The Three Green Doors restaurant.

In 1973, Mr. Reed and his wife, Deborah, moved to Pemaquid Harbor where they restored and ran a salt-water farm. Mr. Reed continued his interest in photography and sculpture I while raising sheep. In 1980, the family moved to Falmouth, and Mr. Reed's third artistic pursuit began in the field of jewelry and silversmithing. He exhibited his work at Fibula on Exchange Street and quickly became recognized as one of the foremost jewelers in Portland.

Mr. Reed has received increasing recognition in recent years for his accomplishments in the field of photography. His work has been the focus of several one-man exhibitions in New England, most notably A Changing World: New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972, organized by Historic New England. The accompanying catalogue, reviews, and television appearances have made his name well known to curators up and down the east coast.

In 2005 the Maine State Senate honored him for his contribution to the arts in New England. Mr. Reed's work is owned by museums including the University of New England Art Gallery, the Portland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Historic New England possesses his photographic archive.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah; a brother, Gordon Peter of Palm Beach, Fla.; a son, Verner Zevola IV, of Greenfield Center, N.Y.; three daughters: Jennifer, of Natick, Mass.; Victoria, of Jamaica Plain, Mass.; and Mary, of Cambridge, Mass.; three granddaughters, and several nieces and nephews.